Japan NHK boss under fire for comfort women remark

South Korea's ruling and opposition parties demanded an apology from Japan and Momii's resignation. Reuters

SummaryJapan's top govt spokesman defended the new head of public broadcaster NHK for his remarks.

Japan's top government spokesman on Monday defended the new head of public broadcaster NHK for his remarks that the use of women as military prostitutes was common worldwide during World War II.

NHK chairman Katsuto Momii told a news conference Saturday marking his appointment that ''comfort women'' existed in any country at war, not just Japan, and criticized South Korea for dredging up a compensation issue that had been settled by a bilateral peace treaty.

Momii said he had no opinion about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's inflammatory visit to the Yasukuni war shrine last month but suggested NHK might step up its coverage of Japanese claims in territorial disputes with China and South Korea.

His remarks have raised concerns about a possible right-leaning shift by the country's public broadcaster to reflect Abe's views, after it reportedly faced criticism from his nationalist government for having programs that were deemed too liberal.

Momii's comments drew an angry response from South Korean officials and former victims. South Korea's ruling and opposition parties demanded an apology from Japan and Momii's resignation. Kang Il-chul, 87, who said she was abducted by Japanese soldiers and forced into sex slavery at age 15, called his comments ''absurd.''

Abe is thought to be pushing a more nationalist agenda since taking office in December 2012, and NHK's recent appointments were seen as reflecting his ideological bias. The government oversees NHK's public service content, and its chairman is picked by parliament-approved advisers. One of them, a best-selling author reportedly favored by Abe, is known for remarks defending Japan's wartime actions.

Under national security guidelines adopted by Japan's Cabinet last month, Abe wants to raise the country's defense posture and play a greater role in international peacekeeping.

His visit to the Yasukuni war shrine last month and his World War I analogy last week comparing Japan-China tension with that of Britain and Germany a century ago were seen as signs of his belligerence.

The military brothel system was ''common in any country at war,'' Momii said Saturday. ''The comfort women system is considered wrong under today's moral values. But the military comfort women system existed as a reality at that time.''

''Putting my chairman's title aside, the issue becomes complicated because South Korea criticizes as if Japan was the only one that forcibly drafted women into the system,'' Momii said. ''And (South Korea) demands money, compensation. Why do they dredge up something, the issue that had